My experience with Jenny is exactly what Susan pointed out: She's a problem solver. Jenny may not do what you asked her to do. Instead she'll find a way (better?) to do it her way. This frustrated the daylights out of me when we did agilty together. Example: I would run Brisco on a short course in the yard with Jenny watching from the enclosed porch. I would bring Brisco in and ask her to come play. She came out, ran past me, and began to run the course without me. *sigh* Isn't agility supposed to be a team sport? Not according to Jenny.
Susan also talked about breed preferences. As I watch conformation dog shows on television, I like to breed shop and play the game of, "If I could have any dog, what would it be?" Or Kathy and I like to choose our "old lady dog"--which breed will suit us when we're in the rockin' chair? The herding group and the terrier group often have the breeds that I find asthetically pleasing: Shelties, Tervs, Pyrenean Shepherds, Norwich terriers, and Scotties. I like a pionted face and fur, fur, fur. Anna and I were talking about this just this past weekend. She likes short-coated dogs, and I like the hair. I enjoy grooming, so it's not an issue to me to spend an hour a week combing, trimming, and detangling my dog's coat. And then there's the look--a coat that flows in the breeze, the ruff on a Sheltie that stands out and frames a face, or the way the coat just makes the look like an Afghan Hound. Here's one of my favorite pictures of the boys on a breezy day:
The opposite is when a dog who should be coated is not there yet. When I first met Cosi he was a year and a half and not quite the beautiful boy he is today. When a dog is that age, he's gangly, not done growing and filling out. And the coat is there, but not full and glorious. To this day, Marilyn teases me about what I said about Cosi. "He's not very pretty, is he?" How wrong I was. Cos is drop-dead gorgeous. I just had to wait for that coat to come in to see it. Mike is the most heavily coated dog I have, and I love it. It's so thick and lovely and flows when he runs.
So for me, it's the boys, the fur, and the pointed face. What's your preference?
